Eight pioneering nurses who formed their own union to defend the rights of women have won a landmark battle for a female-only changing room.
The Darlington nurses launched a legal action saying transgender policies put them at risk, deprived them of dignity and breached their human rights.
They claimed a biological male colleague identifying as a woman called Rose stared at their breasts as they were getting undressed and lingered too long in the changing room. One nurse had a panic attack after Rose repeatedly asked when they were alone, ‘Are you getting changed yet?’
Now, with their case heading to the courts, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has intervened, ordering Darlington Memorial Hospital to give the women their own room.
One of them, Bethany Hutchison, said they ‘hugely appreciate’ the action ‘to restore our safety and dignity in the workplace in line with the law’.
And she said the nurses would not ‘stop until this action is extended urgently to female workers across the NHS without any unnecessary delay’.
The Darlington nurses sued their NHS trust a year ago, winning overwhelming support across the country. ‘Millions of women stand with them,’ said J.K.Rowling.
Their victory comes after it emerged last week that NHS chiefs have been forced to rip up their pro-trans guidance after it was rendered illegal by the Supreme Court.
The eight Darlington nurses (four of whom are pictured here) objected to the man, who self-identifies as a woman called Rose, from sharing their hospital changing room
They claimed a biological male colleague identifying as a woman called Rose stared at their breasts as they were getting undressed and lingered too long in the changing room. One nurse had a panic attack after Rose repeatedly asked when they were alone, ‘Are you getting changed yet?’
With their case heading to the courts, Health Secretary Wes Streeting (pictured) has intervened, ordering Darlington Memorial Hospital to give the women their own room
The NHS Confederation, which represents trusts, has quietly withdrawn guidance telling hospitals that they should allow trans people to use their chosen lavatories and changing rooms.
A senior NHS England official visited Darlington Memorial Hospital unannounced last week and described the changing facilities for female staff as ‘inadequate’.
The official apologised to one of the Darlington nurses, promising to act ‘with speed’ by providing male, female and gender-neutral changing rooms, adding: ‘We want you to feel comfortable and safe.’
Last year, after raising concerns the nurses were told by HR that they needed to get ‘re-educated’, ‘compromise’ and ‘be more inclusive’.
After the nurses publicised their claim, the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust gave them a ‘temporary’ office for changing into uniforms. However, supporters of the nurses said that the office had no lockers and opened on to a public corridor, resulting in the women branding it as ‘dehumanising’ and ‘humiliating’.
When their union was reluctant to lend its support, the eight nurses formed their own, the Darlington Nursing Union and submitted their proposals for a way forward to Mr Streeting.
Their guidelines provided ‘a fair and manageable way forward to protect safe single-sex spaces for all NHS staff in line with the equality law’. In addition, it respected the rights of those with the protected characteristic of ‘gender reassignment’, legally known as ‘transexuals’.
When their union was reluctant to lend its support, the eight nurses formed the Darlington Nursing Union and submitted their proposals for a way forward to Mr Streeting
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch backed the nurses saying: ‘A woman should never be forced to get undressed in the presence of a man’
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch backed the nurses saying: ‘A woman should never be forced to get undressed in the presence of a man. The case of the Darlington Nurses is yet another example of women being demonised and patronised for raising legitimate concerns about single-sex spaces.’
Mr Streeting was forced to wait until after April’s Supreme Court ruling that the word sex in the Equality Act means biological sex before making his latest intervention row.
Last month it was revealed that even before the Supreme Court ruling, the Royal College of Nursing had written to the Darlington trust saying they were acting unlawfully.
The letter ordered the trust to provide single-sex changing rooms ‘without delay.’
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “A climate of fear has pervaded the system and many from top to bottom have been intimidated into silence and inaction. Equality and diversity policies have been weaponised to silence dissent and to prevent women’s safety and dignity being protected in the workplace.
‘We are grateful for the action from Wes Streeting and NHS England in this matter and pray that they will now quickly follow this through so that the nurses can return to the female changing rooms without delay.’
